This Week In Hip Hop History

Ludacris dropped his 3rd album, Chicken N Beer 15 years ago today. This was the follow-up to my Ludacris album, Word of Mouf. Chicken N Beer almost went gold the first week after selling over 429,000 copies. Snoop Dogg, 8Ball & MJG, Lil’ Flip, Chingy, Carl Thomas, Playaz Circle and a few others. Ludacris has always been that MC that loves to have fun. With that mentality and his fun-loving ways, people tend not to take him seriously. Ludacris is one of the more underappreciated and underrated rappers ever in my opinion. Less than two months before the album dropped, Ludacris released Stand Up. Stand Up was typically Ludacris with him having fun in the video. With all the crazy antics in the video, Ludacris came through with the witty and clever lines.

About a week before Chicken N Beer hit the stores, Ludacris dropped Blow It Out. The video was a combination of the Southern Fried Intro track and Blow It Out. During this time, Bill O’Reilly and Ludacris had a little beef going on so Ludacris tossed a line his way. Ludacris also have a remix of Blow It Out with none other than 50 Cent. With the singles, Splash Waterfalls and Diamond in the Back dropping the following year Chicken N Beer went double platinum. Ludacris also released a remix to Splash Waterfalls, which is as smooth as the original featuring Raphael Saadiq. If you’re a Ludacris fan, then you know that he’ll always have some hilarious skits. This album is no different as he delivers some crazy and funny skits. Production for Chicken N Beer was mostly handled by Kanye West, Mo B. Dick, DJ Paul, Juicy J and Ludacris himself.

This is my favorite Ludacris album after Word of Mouf as most of the tracks stand out. Only tracks that didn’t do it for me is P-Poppin and Teamwork. Below is the track listing and also where you can listen to it under that.

Jay-Z has done it all in the rap game and in the board room. After releasing his classic debut, Reasonable Doubt Jay-Z returned with In My Lifetime Volume 1. We now have his third album, Hard Knock Life Volume 2 which propelled Jay-Z into superstardom. The album went on to sell over 5 million records and introduced the world to Ja Rule. Can I Get A was the first single off the album and the bouncy track featured Amil and Ja Rule. The track also appeared on the Rush Hour Soundtrack, which helped boost the song and album. The track instantly had everyone anticipating the album. In the process, it created a star in Ja Rule who went on to become a star himself. Hard Knock Life went on to sell over 350,000 copies in the first week of its release.

A few weeks after the release of the album, Jay-Z released the title track as his second single. Can I Get A was poppin in the clubs and everyone’s whips back then. With Hard Knock Life, the wordplay, lyrics and storytelling were on another level. What really got the song going were the kids singing the chorus, of course. Hard Knock Life has been called one of the best hip hop tracks ever and I won’t argue that. A few weeks later, Jay-Z released another single and it featured DMX. By now, DMX was a huge star himself after the success of his debut album, It’s Dark and Hell is Hot. The track was produced by Swizz Beatz and the title tells you everything you need to know about the record.

Besides Ja Rule and DMX, Jay-Z featured a plethora of artists. The Lox, Too Short, Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek, Foxy Brown and his mentor, Big Jaz appear. When it comes to the discography of Jay-Z, this is probably my 6th favorite album of his. If I Should Die, A Week Ago, Nigga What Nigga Who, Reservoir Dogs, It’s Alright and Money Ain’t a Thang are other top tracks. Check out the tracklisting and stream below.

Spice 1 is one of the more underrated rappers of all-time. Nas shouted him out on his Hip Hop is Dead album as Spiggity One have been putting it down for over 25 years now. 25 years ago, Spice 1 released his second album, 187 He Wrote. It was the follow-up to his self-titled debut album he dropped a year ago. The album was straight gangsta and the features all were from the west coast. E-40, Ant Banks, Boss, G-Nut and Havikk & Prodeje from South Central Cartel all made appearances. The track featuring MC Eiht is one of my all-time favorite hip hop records called the Murda Show. Normally, I’ll go through the album and name the best tracks. With 187 He Wrote; the entire album is great from the beginning to the end. You can check out the track list below.

I’m The Fuckin Murderer

Dumpin’ Em in the Ditches

Gas Chamber

187 He Wrote

Don’t Ring the Alarm (The Heist) ft. Boss & G-Nut

Clip & the Trigga ft. Ant Banks

Smoke Em Like a Blunt

The Murda Show ft. MC Eiht

380 On That Ass ft. Havikk & Prodeje

Mo’ Mail ft. E-40

Runnin Out da Crackhouse

Trigga Gots No Heart

Trigga Happy

RIP

All He Wrote

If I had to choose my favorite tracks off the album it would start with the Murda Show. I’m the Fuckin Murderer, Runnin Out da Crackhouse, Trigga Gots No Heart, Trigga Happy, RIP and All He Wrote. You can check out the album on Apple Music or Spotify. You can also check out the stream below.

Remember when Shady/Aftermath/G-Unit was running shit in the early-to-mid 2000s. Eminem was on top of his game, 50 Cent and G-Unit was the shit and Obie Trice dropped his debut album. Obie Trice was the least known member of that entire camp. When they were beefing with Murder Inc, Benzino or whoever, he was there spitting bars at whoever. Cheers was his debut album and it was released 15 years ago today. Cheers had crazy features like Eminem, 50 Cent, G-Unit, Busta Rhymes, Dr. Dre and Nate Dogg. Cheers went on to sell over two million records and the lead single was Got Some Teeth. Got Some Teeth was pure comedy, which is the best way I can describe it.

Shit Hits the Fan was the next single and it was released a little over a month after the Cheers album dropped. This track appeared on damn near ever mixtape you can think of during that time. Shit Hits the Fan featured Dr. Dre and Eminem. The track saw Dr. Dre spit some fire at Ja Rule, plus Obie Trice and Eminem did their thing also. Shit Hits the Fan was definitely one of the standout tracks from the album. We All Die One Day was another banger on the album that was on many mixtapes also. We All Die One Day featured Eminem, 50 Cent and Lloyd Banks. After the videos below, you can check out the track listing and the album also.

Average Man

Cheers

Got Some Teeth

Lady ft. Eminem

Don’t Come Down

The Set Up (You Don’t Know) ft. Nate Dogg

Bad Bitch ft. Timbaland

Shit Hits the Fan ft. Dr. Dre & Eminem

Follow My Life

We All Die One Day ft. Eminem, 50 Cent & Lloyd Banks

Spread Yo Shit ft. Kon Artis of D12

Look in My Eyes ft. Nate Dogg

Hands on You ft. Eminem

Hoodrats

Oh! Ft. Busta Rhymes

Never Forget Ya

Outro ft. D12

What are your thoughts about the Cheers album from Obie Trice? What’s your favorite track off the album? Leave a comment below.

It’s been a minute since the Mixtape Friday series has made an appearance. As a matter of fact, Mood Muzik 2 was the last time and that was four weeks ago. It’s crazy because Joe Budden was my Throwback Thursday on my other site with a track from Mood Muzik 4. Since 2Pac is my favorite artist of all-time, today is a reminder that he was shot in Las Vegas 22 years ago after leaving the Mike Tyson fight. Of course, 6 days later he succumbed to those shots. One of my all-time favorite mixtapes is the 2Pac Rap Phenomenon by DJ Green Lantern, DJ Vlad and Dirty Harry. This classic feature everyone from Busta Rhymes, 50 Cent, Bun B, Scarface, Jon B and a few others. Below is the tracklisting below and also you can check out this classic.

Intro

Revolution ft. Busta Rhymes

Fight Music ft. Xzibit

Homeboyz ft. Jadakiss, DMX & Butch Cassidy

Gunz On My Side ft. Busta Rhymes

2 Glocks ft. Bounty Killer & Wayne Marshall

Baby Don’t Cry ft. Wyclef Jean

Hold Up ft. Nate Dogg

Bomb Azz Pussy

Riders & Punks

I’m A Rider ft. Big Pun

If You Really Want It ft. 50 Cent

Me Against the World ft. Bun B & Brooklyn

2Pac Interlude

High All the Time

Thug In Me ft. Jodeci

Alicia Keys Interlude

Reputations

Bodyguard Interlude

Thug Mansion (Slippin)

Fat Joe Interlude

On My Block ft. Scarface

Pray 4 Better Dayz

Keep on Pressin On ft. Butch Cassidy

Lil’ Ghetto Boy

Are You Still Down (Remix) ft. Jon B

Sway Interlude

One Day ft. Nappy Roots

Afeni Shakur Interlude

Dear Mama (Live)

Have you checked out this 2Pac Rap Phenomenon mixtape before? If not, you have to peep it above. If you have, what do you think about it? What do you think about the way DJ Green Lantern, DJ Vlad and Dirty Harry mixed things together? Leave a comment below.